


Stalked

by Eggling



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:48:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21846808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eggling/pseuds/Eggling
Summary: Jamie finds himself tracked through time and space by a strange creature.
Kudos: 15
Collections: Classic Who Secret Santa 2019





	Stalked

**Author's Note:**

> secret santa for [gays4thor](https://gays4thor.tumblr.com/).
> 
> on [tumblr](https://the--highlanders.tumblr.com/post/189737037881/stalked-eggling-doctor-who-archive-of-our).

The wind that drove the storm was muffled, dulled down by thick layers of thatch and earth and stone, but Jamie could read its strength in the flurries of snowflakes that it shoved down the chimney-hole. They burst into the house quickly, tumbling over each other in their rush before floating down to settle over the fireplace, melting with a hiss on the pot that was simmering there. He pushed open the window beside him, leaning out to squint up at the dark clouds, but drew his head back in hastily when the snow stung at his eyes.

“Close the window, Jamie, dear,” his mother murmured. When he turned, it took him a moment to find her in the peat-smoke darkness. She was sat on a low stool by the fire, hunched over the pot as if to shield it from the snow, her eyes fixed on its contents. “You’re letting in a horrible draft.”

Jamie ducked his head apologetically, pulling the window shut with a solid clunk. “Sorry, _mathair_.”

She shook her head. “An’ ye wonder why ye got that cold.”

“I’m better,” Jamie protested, folding his arms. A cough threatened to rise in his throat, and he struggled to swallow it down. “Really,” he added weakly, his voice more hoarse than he would have liked. “Ye could’ve gone to the ceilidh, ye know. We both could’ve gone.”

From the look he got, he knew his protests were falling on deaf ears. “Eilidh has a new bairn. Ye wouldnae want tae make him sick, would ye?” He shook his head, and she broke into a smile. “There’ll always be another. Go an’ check on the animals, will ye? They’ve been makin’ an awful racket over there.”

Wandering down to the other end of the house, Jamie hung his arms over the dividing fence to stare down at the ragtag row of animals that stood there, stamping and snorting. He rubbed at the withers of the pony closest to him, frowning at the sharpness of her spine beneath his fingers. The stark reminder of the poor harvest made him wince. And yet most of the animals’ fodder was still strewn below them, untouched. Slipping around the fence and crouching down beside it, he turned it over in his hands, searching for some trace of mould or insects, something that might have put the beasts off their food. Even as he dropped the handful, satisfied that it was still edible, the cows and ponies began to fidget, stomping their hooves and snorting out their displeasure at some unseen foe.

The cottage’s door swung open, and Jamie whirled around to face it. His hand flew to his belt, but grasped only empty air, and he remembered that his dirk was lying abandoned by his bedside. _It was only the storm_ , he told himself. _Nevermind that the house has its back to the wind. The door couldn’t have just opened by itself_.

Could it?

A piercing howl split the air, making him wince and stagger backwards, his hands clutched over his ears and his head ringing. The beasts were more agitated now, pulling at their ties, and he turned to drag their heads down, struggling to calm them. But when he glanced over at his mother, she seemed unconcerned, still bent over the fire as if she had not heard the cry. _Maybe she didn’t_ , he thought. _Maybe only the animals and I could hear it_. The only mortal beast that he could think would make such a sound was a wolf – but even if reason had not told him that there had been no wolves in the area since before his father was born, the strange echoing in his bones could not have been caused by any earthly creature. _Maybe it’s some sort of faery sound_.

“Close the door,” his mother called, her voice jarringly human after the unearthly pitch of the sound he had just heard. “You’ll catch a chill again.”

A sickle lay abandoned on the floor beside him. Keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the door, he bent to pick it up, then stepped outside. The world seemed to have been erased by the snow, and he hesitated for a moment, wondering if he would lose sight of his own house, just as the rest of the village seemed to have vanished from him. Readjusting his grip on the sickle, he tried to steel himself to creep forward, squinting through the snow for any trace of a recognisable landmark. Another cry echoed through the air, crystal clear despite the howling wind muffling his senses. The force of it knocked him backwards, and he lay stunned for a moment, sprawled amongst the snow. Rolling over, he fumbled for the sickle, but promptly dropped it again when he found himself face to face with his assailant.

_Face to face_ was a rather generous way of putting it, a small voice inside him whispered. The thing that loomed over him was massive, surely twice the height of his house. Its face was flattened, almost mask-like, daubed with a dizzying array of red lines and curves. Swallowing thickly, he hoped desperately that the symbols had been drawn with paint rather than blood. But the great horns curving over the creature’s head and the fangs protruding from its mouth belied its strength, and something in its eyes told him that he was staring down a predator.

It lowered its face towards him, turning its head to the side to study him with one beady orange eye. The rest of its great, shaggy body was fading into view from out of the storm, and he knew that its thick fur hid powerful muscles. A small part of him managed to break free of his terror, and he reached again for the sickle. Grasping the handle, he stared up at the creature, trying to visualise what he had to do. A quick slash across the muzzle ought to buy him enough time to roll away – but where could he run to, when the creature could flatten any building in the village?

As if it had read his mind, the creature snapped its head around to fix its gaze on his clenched fist. The sickle burned cold, frost flakes crystallising across its blade, and he dropped it with a yelp, clutching at his hand. Thoughts of the ceilidh swam into his mind – of the music and laughter, his father and brother and Eilidh’s new bairn. If this creature meant to kill them all, there would be nothing he or anyone could do to stop it.

The creature drew its head back, looking down at him with something he could only describe as curiosity. It raised its face towards the sky, let out a third shriek, then sprang over him, bounding off into the darkness with the lithe agility of a cat. Its footsteps made no sound, but the vibrations of them seemed to ring through him anyway.

He stared after it, his body wracked with tremors – though whether from fright or cold, he could not say.

* * *

Wrapping his plaid more tightly around himself, Jamie struggled to tuck his hands against his skin. His fingers were numb enough to feel swollen, and the silence of the pipers and drummers up and down the army’s ranks told him that the others shared the pain of it. He could hardly even bring himself to think of the prince and his company with bitterness, knowing they felt the cold as keenly as anyone else. His own laird’s horse was prancing along nervously, shaking her head with every snowflake that settled on her ears.

The thin ice that had settled over a puddle cracked beneath him as he stepped across, and he stumbled, his foot plunging into the water. He hurried onwards, cursing under his breath. The water had quickly soaked through the worn leather of his boots, chilling him to the bone. Half-closing his eyes, he tried to summon up the memory of sitting by the fire in a cosy blackhouse, but he found he could not clearly imagine the feeling of warmth. Another memory sprang into his mind instead, unbidden – the haunting shriek of the enormous creature that had haunted a snowstorm, almost four years ago. He shook his head, trying to banish the thought. The last thing he needed was to be reminded of the beast that had filled his nightmares for weeks afterwards.

Even with his eyes open and his mind forcibly dragged away, the cry still echoed through him. The other men had not seemed to hear it, but Jamie glanced around anyway, studying the landscape for any trace of the creature. It could hardly have hidden itself in the treeless fields that stretched out around them, and only a little snow had settled on the ground, far from the thick coating that had covered his village when he had first seen the creature. But he could almost have sworn that he caught a glimpse of a great, hulking shape stalking along the skyline, half-concealed by dark clouds.

When he looked again, the creature was gone.

* * *

“The important thing -” Polly rubbed her hands together, holding them over the small pile of leaves and twigs that sat between them as if they were already burning. “The important thing is to keep warm.”

Jamie snorted. “Really? I thought the important thing was tae be as cold as possible.”

Polly swatted at him in mock-annoyance. They turned to look at Ben, who was crouched over the still-unlit fire, rubbing a stick against the leaves in a frantic effort to make a spark. He grinned up at them reassuringly, but his lapse in concentration sent the stick flying out of his grasp. “I’m getting there,” he said hastily, scrambling to pick it up again. “I’m sure I read about this in a book once.”

“Was it a survival guide, or a boys’ own adventure book?” Polly teased. He stuck his tongue out at her before returning to his work. “What about you, Jamie? Are you sure you don’t know how to do it?”

Jamie shook his head. “If we had a tinderbox, I’d give it a go. I dinnae think it’d light even then, though. This stuff’s been out in the snow, it’s too wet tae start a fire.”

As if to prove his point, a small chunk of snow slipped away from the roof, depositing itself amongst the leaves. Polly wrinkled her nose, staring down at it as if to will it to evaporate. “Maybe we ought to go out and collect some more.”

“Nah, the wind’s picked up. Reckon that storm’s here.” Dropping his stick, Ben settled himself back against the wall. “We’d get lost. We’ll be alright here.”

“Aye.” Jamie brought his hands to his mouth to blow on them. “It’s no’ that cold. Yet.”

“The smoke might lead the Doctor to us,” Polly argued.

“Only if it melts a hole in the roof.”

“An’ then the snow would come in, an’ it’d go out anyway.” Jamie shook his head. “We’ll keep each other warm. You’ll see.”

“Mm.” Polly fell silent. Taking one of the leaves from the pile, she began to shred it absently, letting the jagged pieces flutter down onto the icy floor. “Jamie – how cold did it get, where you’re from?”

“No’ this cold.”

“And when you were keeping warm, was it in a hole dug into a snowdrift with two other people?”

Jamie grinned. “I never said I was an expert on this, ye know.”

“Well, neither am I, but I do think we ought to get a fire going.” Making as if to get to her feet, Polly hit her head against the low ceiling and sat down again heavily.

“I’ll go, duchess,” Ben said hastily.

“I think I remember where it is,” Jamie put in. “Maybe I should go.”

“Two of us could go,” Polly suggested. “That way the third person could guide us back, and we could carry more -”

Some strange noise was echoing far away in the distance. Turning his head towards the sound, Jamie tried to drag his attention away from Ben and Polly’s rapid bickering, straining to hear the sound again. He had only caught the tail end of it, and yet it had seemed eerily familiar, as if he ought to recognise it. Fragments of it seemed to be caught in the wind, whistling around them with an even greater fury. “Shh!” He held his arm out in front of Polly, as if to stop her from moving. “Listen.”

Silence fell over them for a long moment. Jamie’s heart pounded in his chest, almost too loud for him to tell whether he had imagined the sound. The world outside seemed empty beyond the storm. _You’re just being jumpy_ , he told himself sternly. _There’s nothing out there. The Doctor said this planet was dead before humans arrived_.

The sound came again, close and loud enough to make Ben and Polly clap their hands over their ears. The familiarity of it sent a jolt through Jamie’s body, and he pressed himself back against the wall, his breath coming in shallow gasps. “Stay still,” he whispered. “Don’t make a sound.” His mind was whirling, but his heart was pounding too loudly for his thoughts to be coherent.

“It was just the wind, wasn’t it?” Polly whispered, her eyes wide. “Wasn’t it, Jamie?”

Jamie made as if to shush her, but his mind had grabbed hold of a thought, and he could not shake it off. “Ye can hear it,” he said, his voice more calm than he felt. “Why can ye hear it?”

More shudders were passing through him, as if the ground were shaking beneath him with the weight of enormous footsteps. From the way Ben and Polly flinched, they could feel it too. The creature seemed to be creeping closer, and Jamie felt himself overcome with an urge to shove his way out of their hole in the snowdrift and run, like a rabbit being hunted by a fox. He sunk his fingers into the packed snow of the floor as if to root himself there, clenching his fists even when his hands began to numb with the cold.

He stared up at the walls as if he could see through them to the enormous shape that was surely padding towards them. Its footsteps were growing faster and more violent, as if it was bounding across the snow, though they still seemed to make no sound. That dreadful scream sounded again, closer this time, its edges sharper and more painful. Every muscle in Jamie’s body was screaming at him to run, to get as far away from there as possible, but he found himself frozen in place, his head tilting back almost of its own accord to follow the creature’s motion.

Fragments of ice and snow cascaded over them as the ceiling caved in, sending Ben and Polly scrambling away and into each other’s arms. A great claw descended slowly through the roof after the initial flurry, stretching out as the creature put its weight on that foot before withdrawing as it wandered onwards. It let out one final scream, almost mournful this time, as if it were searching for something it could not find.

“What was that?” Polly whispered. “What did it want?”

Jamie shook his head. Any words he might have spoken seemed to have vanished from his mind, and he could only stare at the snowflakes falling through the ruined ceiling. “I don’t know,” he said at last, his voice as hoarse as if he had been silent for weeks. “I don’t know what it was.”

* * *

“Hey, Doctor...”

“Mm?”

Circling the console, the Doctor flipped a few switches carelessly. He ran his hands over the panels as he went, tapping his fingers in time with the variable humming emanating from the central column as if it were music. Jamie hurried after him, trying to catch his arm and hold down his attention. “I’ve been wondering something.”

“Well, I’m very glad.” The Doctor paused, leaning down to tap at a dial. “That doesn’t seem right...”

“ _And_ -” Taking the Doctor’s hand, Jamie dragged it away from the console. At last the Doctor looked up at him, his eyes clearing as he was drawn in to focus on Jamie’s face. “I wanted tae ask about it.”

“Oh.” The Doctor rubbed his free hand against his coat buttons, worrying one of them between his forefinger and his thumb. “Well, ask away.”

Jamie took in a deep breath. He had practised what he was going to say so many times, run through it in his mind over and over again, but now it felt like it was escaping him. “Is there any sort of beastie that could hunt someone wherever they went?”

The words had seemed to pour out of his mouth in a confused jumble, but from the way the Doctor was nodding thoughtfully, he must have understood. “Ye-es.” He stretched out the word, tapping one finger against his lips as he mulled it over. “Yes, I believe there are. Why do you ask?”

Jamie tried to shrug nonchalantly. “No reason. Just somethin’ I read.”

The Doctor was staring at him, in the piercing sort of way he stared at people when he finally let the mask of clumsy innocence drop. His eyes were hard and cold, and Jamie looked away, feeling inexplicably guilty about having lied to him. “Has something been following you, Jamie?”

“Aye,” Jamie mumbled. “Well – sort of. I’ve only seen it a few times.”

“Where did you see it?” The Doctor guided him over to the chair that sat in the corner of the console room, pushing on his shoulders. When Jamie collapsed into the chair, he knelt in front of him. His expression was softer now, more concerned than protective. “What was it like? Where did you see it?”

“Outside my house, one winter. An’ on that last planet we visited, An’ I think I saw it another time. Just before I met ye.” Jamie shuddered. “It was huge. Had some sort of mask for a face, but a cat’s body. An’ makes the worst noises I’ve ever heard.”

“Mm.” The Doctor shook his head slowly. “Doesn’t sound like any creature I’ve ever heard of. But if it’s been following you, it must have left some sort of trace.”

Jamie swallowed thickly. “A trace?” he asked nervously.

“Mm.”

“What sort of trace?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” The Doctor waved his hand in a manner that might have seemed casual were it not for the slight tremor in his fingers. “A molecular change, a temporal marker, anything that would let it get a fix on you through time and space.”

A cold wave of terror washed over Jamie’s spine at his words. “Ye mean it’s – it’s _changed_ me somehow?”

“Possibly, possibly. Or perhaps it’s been there your whole life. There’s no way of knowing until I find out what it is.” The Doctor patted Jamie’s cheeks comfortingly. “It would only be a very small change. Entirely unnoticeable, without the right equipment. It shouldn’t have done any harm whatsoever.”

He hurried off without another word, and Jamie stared after him for a moment, wondering if he would be coming back. Shrugging to himself, he got to his feet, circling the console until he found the switch for the scanner. He flicked it and stared up at the small, grainy screen, wondering absently why the Doctor had never bothered to replace it with something a little clearer.

“Don’t touch that!” The Doctor came trotting back into the room, something small and rectangular clutched in one hand. “You never know what you might do.”

“I just turned the scanner on,” Jamie protested. “Ye know I dinnae go messin’ with her. Mostly.” He nodded up towards the screen. “I just wanted tae look. Is it out there, somewhere? Watchin’ me?”

“We won’t know unless we try this.” The Doctor held the object out to him. “Put your finger in the dent there – that’s right – now, this is going to take a blood sample. It won’t hurt a bit.”

“Ouch!” Scowling, Jamie drew his hand back sharply. A bead of blood was already forming where the Doctor’s gadget had pricked him, and he stuck his finger in his mouth, struggling to look stern. “Ye said it wouldn’t hurt.”

“Yes, well, I wasn’t entirely honest about that.” A long receipt was curling out of the object to pool in the Doctor’s hands, and he glanced over it, his frown deepening as he read further. “There’s nothing unusual here.” His face set into a frown, and he crumpled the receipt up, tossing it aside. “I don’t understand! It must be tracking you somehow, but it doesn’t seem to be doing it physically.”

“What about the temporal – thingies?”

The Doctor shook his head. “The TARDIS would have picked up on that sort of thing. However it’s been finding you, it hasn’t been tracking you physically.” He closed his eyes, letting out a long, weary breath. “I’m afraid that means we can’t get rid of it.”

* * *

“You know, it’s rather lovely here.” The Doctor twirled around, clapping his hands together in delight as he took in the room. “I think we’ll be quite able to have a relaxing break here, don’t you?” Jamie did not glance away from the window, giving only a non-committal murmur of agreement. “Sometimes I do surprise myself.”

Despite himself, Jamie broke into a small smile. “I thought ye knew exactly where we were headin’?”

The Doctor puffed out his cheeks, drawing himself up to his full height as if he were deeply offended. “Of course I did! I always know where we’re going.” He was not tall enough to cut a particularly imposing figure, and although his tone was indignant, the twinkle in his eye told Jamie that the return to their usual bantering came as a relief. “I, ah – I wanted to do this for you, you know. To cheer you up. You haven’t been at all your usual self lately.”

“Well, what do ye expect?” Jamie asked bitterly. “It’s no’ every day ye find out you’re bein’ stalked by some great beastie, an’ ye dinnae even know how it’s findin’ ye. How do ye know it’s no’ done something terrible tae me?”

The Doctor opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by someone knocking at the door. He gave Jamie a long, inscrutable look before hurrying over to open it, revealing Ben and Polly carrying a small pine tree between them. Their excitement turned Jamie’s stomach, and he looked away, rubbing some of the condensation off the window in an effort to see more clearly through the thick clouds outside. He knew the Doctor had meant well, but even the mere sight of snow was enough to chill the blood in his veins. The creature was out there, somewhere, and if it should find him – if it should find them…

Something crashed to the ground in another room, and he turned, listening to the others’ laughter. A part of him was pulled towards them, but the knowledge that he was being tracked gave him an odd sense of being tainted, half-removed from his friends’ world. He had put Ben and Polly in danger once already, just by drawing the creature to him. Now, in the heart of a holiday town, he felt like some great beacon, burning hot enough to scorch anyone who came close.

Ben and Polly had left the front door slightly ajar when they had brought the tree in, and it blew open, handle bumping softly against the wall. A flurry of snow swept in to settle over the carpet. To Jamie’s mind, the gentle motion could not have been anything but a sign, or perhaps a warning. He cast one last glance in the direction of his friends’ voices, then pushed himself upright, hunching his back against the wind and stepping outside. The row of cottages before him seemed so fragile, carved into the shape of gingerbread houses and dusted with snow. Stepping across the garden in front of their cottage, he slipped down the gap between the houses to emerge into the field of snow behind them.

It was colder than he had been expecting, and he drew his jumper around himself more tightly, his fingers catching in the bumps of its cable-knit sleeves. For a brief moment, he toyed with the idea of hurrying back inside, warming his already-numbing hands with a mug of tea and trying to forget about the creature. The snow around him was already ankle-deep, and more was falling, thick and fast and powdery enough to cling to anything it touched. But the fear of the creature had rooted itself in his chest, and he knew it would not be dug out so easily.

He trudged further out into the field, eyeing a distant copse of trees and wondering if they would be decent enough camouflage, should the creature find him. The snow was deep enough that he felt as if he was wading through molasses, but when he turned to glance back at the cottage, he found that he had walked a surprising distance. _Good_ , he told himself firmly. _They’ll be safe, whatever happens to me_. The ground was growing marshier as he approached the trees, the thick snow giving way to a muddy, icy slush that splattered onto his boots and socks, chilling him to the bone. Only then, with his fingers growing cold enough to sting when he moved them, did he wonder exactly where he was going, or what to do about the creature when he got there. The copse of trees might serve to hide him for a while, but they could not shield him. And yet there was no sign of the creature. Both land and sky seemed desolate, washed-out and whitened by the snow, and he felt an odd sort of loneliness at the creature’s absence.

“Where are ye?” he called out. “Ye must be out there somewhere. I know ye can see me. Why won’t ye show yourself?”

All was still for a long moment, and he felt a little embarrassed at having shouted, even if nobody had heard. Perhaps the creature had stopped following him. Some strange kind of melancholy settled over him at the thought, and he shook his head, trying to chase it away. But before he could examine the feeling too closely, the darkening clouds above him were split by a piercing screech. Jamie turned his face towards the sky, searching for the creature with all the relief of having heard thunder in the desert.

The great mask that passed for the creature’s face was rising slowly over the horizon. Now, with a target in sight, something in his chest loosened, and he began to shout again. “What do ye want from me?” he cried out. The creature gave no indication that it had heard him, simply stepping closer without a moment’s hesitation. “Why are ye followin’ me like this?” It was growing worryingly close, and every muscle in Jamie’s body was screaming at him to run, but the thought of Ben and Polly and the Doctor and everyone else in the holiday village kept him frozen in place. “What’s so important about me?” The warmth of the creature’s breath melted the snow before it as it walked slowly, serenely towards him, apparently unaware of his existence. He was little more than an ant to it, Jamie realised, insignificant and irrelevant. And yet he held enough interest for it to bother chasing him halfway across the universe. “Why don’t ye just kill me?”

Lifting one enormous paw, the creature stepped over him, its claw knocking against his chest. The smooth surface hissed, stinging his skin as if it were made of ice, He tumbled to the ground, fumbling to reach his knife, but the creature was already gone, striding away more serenely than he had ever seen it. Years might have passed since it had last left him like this, but the sight of it made him feel little more than a boy grasping at some useless farm tool.

He sat alone in the snow, clutching his knife hard enough to whiten his knuckles, feeling his panicked tears freeze before they could even roll down his cheeks.

* * *

“What were you _thinking_?” Ben forced the words out through clenched teeth, dabbing the cotton wool ball in his hand against Jamie’s chest with a little more force than was strictly necessary. “You could’ve _died_.”

Jamie winced as the cotton wool scraped across his raw skin. The creature’s claw had left an odd triangular mark where it had hit him, but he had staunchly refused to explain what had happened. The Doctor had not asked him anything, only thrown him an oddly mournful expression as Ben had marched him off to the bathroom to check him over. “Aye, well. I didn’t die.”

“No, but Polly might’ve, when she was out there looking for you. You gave us all a right turn, mate.”

“I said I’m sorry, didn’t I?”

“’Spose you did.” Ben’s expression softened, and he squeezed up the cotton wool ball, throwing it into a nearby bin. The acrid smell of the antiseptic the Doctor had soaked it in lingered on, hanging over the small room as heavily as the tense atmosphere between them. “What happened out there? I know the Doctor knows something, but he won’t tell us.”

Jamie looked away from Ben, fixing his gaze on the cheerful yellow tiles that dotted the walls. They seemed at odds with the confusion and guilt that was turning his stomach. “Nothin’ happened. I just – went out for a walk an’ got a bit lost, that’s all.”

Ben gave him a long, searching look. “Something had to’ve done this to you,” he said at last.”

“No – well – maybe.” Jamie glanced back at Ben, but looked away quickly, overcome with another surge of unease. He tapped his fingers against the edge of the bathtub restlessly. “I dinnae know how tae explain it.”

“You’ve told the Doctor, though. You must have.”

“That was different.”

“’Course it was.”

“It was! Look -” Jamie reached out to grip Ben’s forearm, trying to seem more confident and reassuring than he felt. “I’ll tell ye one day, I promise. But – I’d have tae understand it myself first. An’ I don’t understand it at all right now.”

* * *

_This is it _.__

__He reached for the next ledge, trying to feel out a path. _This is where it all ends_. The snow marked his way for him, settled in thick clumps over the stark blackness of the mountainside – _artificially volcanic_ , the Doctor’s voice in his head reminded him, _froze out again just last year. No eruptions, no geysers, nothing. But nobody knows why_._ _

___Not really your best move, Jamie_ , he thought. _Volunteering to climb a mountain, just for a few rocks_. They were hardly just rocks, a smaller, quieter voice inside him whispered. The Doctor needed them. _You didn’t need to go halfway up a volcano to impress the Doctor_._ _

__His fingers were clumsy, feeling swollen with the cold, but he managed to clutch the next ledge, and dragged himself a little higher up. All his limbs were shaking, though whether with exhaustion or the fear of falling he could not tell. When he raised his hand once again, he hit a patch of snow that surely belied an edge large enough for him to sit and rest, but no sudden rush of determined energy came through him. Pressing his palm against the snow, he tried to lever himself up, but his hand slipped, leaving him grasping in vain for anything that might hold his weight. He remained caught between falling and saving himself for a moment that would have seemed almost comically long if his heart had not been beating so fast._ _

__Just as he started to lose his balance and lean away from the rock face, something grasped the back of his shirt, pulling him up and onto the ledge he had been trying to reach. He lay where he had been deposited for a minute, breathing heavily, still clutching at the ground as if to stop the wind from buffeting him off. _I’m safe_ , he repeated to himself. _I'm safe_. Only when the snow began to to melt beneath him and soak into his shirt did he force himself up onto his hands and knees, looking around himself curiously. The ledge was larger than he had expected, extending out in a twisting path for a short distance across the cliff. Looking down, he studied the ground around him in search of footprints, but the snow was unmarked._ _

__Edging his way along the cliff face, he clung to the strange, glassy rocks with his fingertips. Snow was caked on the soles of his boots, and he struggled to kick it off against the sharp edges of the path. His mind was filled with images of himself slipping from the ledge and tumbling down the mountainside to the distant ground below. But he soon found that the path widened, and he could walk with more confidence, hurrying along as if drawn towards something._ _

__When he turned the corner, he found himself faced with the yawning mouth of a cave, with the footprints of some enormous creature leading to the entrance. A shudder ran through him at the sight, and he wondered at it. The cave hardly seemed deep, and even if whatever creature had pulled him up was concealed inside, it had chosen to save him rather than push him off the mountainside or leave him to his struggle. _Besides_ , he thought, _it’s probably just the cold_. The cave would be an ideal place to wait out the snowstorm. But his body still seemed to resist every step he took towards the entrance – and when he saw the great bulk of the creature within, he understood why._ _

__It could never have been anything else, he thought, filled with a deep, empty resignation. He should have known that here of all places, on the side of a mountain frozen without reason, he would find the creature that had been stalking him for so long._ _

__The beast was smaller than he remembered, its presence more solid and grounded, and its face was unmarked by the red lines that usually turned his stomach. It was as if he was staring down a nightmare in broad daylight, and finding it to be less frightening than he imagined. Even as the thought occurred to him, the creature stirred, raising its head to stare at Jamie. It seemed to look straight through him, and he thought distantly that he had never looked into its eyes before without shying away. They stared at each other for a long moment – then Jamie let out a cry of pain, clutching at his head and staggering backwards. He felt as if its piercing gaze had become solid, striking through his skull and leaving his head throbbing. The pain of it had scattered his mind, but one thought seemed very clear, and he was certain that it was not his own. _Hello_._ _

__“H-” Straightening up, Jamie took a tentative step forward. The creature inclined its head as if inviting him closer, narrowly missing him with its antlers as it did so. “Ye can – ye can _talk_?” Somewhere deep in his gut, he knew that the creature had answered yes. “Why haven’t ye talked before?”_ _

__A series of images shot through his mind, almost too quick for him to process them, though he found he that he knew instinctively what they meant. _Sleep. Stranger. Silence_. “You’ve never met me before? But I’ve met you. Or somethin’ - someone like ye.”_ _

___Mountain, storm, cold_._ _

__“Aye, I’m a wee bit chilly.”_ _

___Cold, pain, death_._ _

__Taken aback by its concern, Jamie laughed. “It’s no’ that bad. Not yet.” To his surprise, he found himself sitting by the creature’s head. It blinked at him balefully, seeming as docile as any wild beast might be while it considered what it would have for its next meal._ _

___Warm. Safe_._ _

__“Ye want tae keep me safe?” Jamie echoed disbelievingly. “Why would ye do that?”_ _

___Cold, pain, death_._ _

__“Oh.” He mulled it all over. For a moment, he glanced up to look the creature in the eye again, then looked away, feeling inexplicably overwhelmed. “If you’re so worried about me, why did ye freeze the volcano? It was ye who did it, wasn’t it?”_ _

___Home. Safe. Nest_._ _

__He shook his head. “I dinnae understand.”_ _

__More images pressed themselves towards him, and he ducked away as if to avoid them. His head was filled with the sight of hundreds of beasts like this one, covering the mountainside like salmon filling a river to spawn. But when he studied the land around the mountain, the space now filled by the humans’ settlement was empty. “Are ye the only one left?” Instinct told him that the answer was yes before the creature had even given its strange reply._ _

___Cold, pain, death_. The creature beat its tail against the ground. _Keep warm_._ _

__“Well, I ‘spose there’s no point in goin’ any higher just now. I’ve got the answers I came for.” Taking a pebble from the ground, Jamie turned it over in his hand. “An’ maybe the Doctor’s rocks, too.” He glanced around the cave. It was barren save for the creature, and he could not fathom how it would be able to keep him warm, even with its thick fur and great bulk. As if sensing his thoughts, the creature let out a long, breathy sigh from somewhere within its wood-grained mask. As it washed over him, he found himself filled with a surprisingly pleasant warmth. He basked in it for a moment, then shook himself. “How do I know I can trust ye?” The creature remained silent, any thoughts kept within its own mind. “I mean, ye are freezin’ the mountain. The settlement – they’ll die without the energy they were gettin’ from it.”_ _

__The creature flung a storm of images towards him with a fury that sent him reeling. Great machines were circling around the top of a mountain, digging their claws into the earth, burrowing down to find the molten core of the planet. Even as he watched, sprays of lava bubbled up from the drill-holes, splashing over the sides of the mountain to melt the ice and burn the nests. The creature’s confusion and anger was bleeding into Jamie’s mind, and he could not tell where his outrage ended and its began. “Aye, alright,” he gasped. “You’ve made your point. But if I stay here, what’ll happen?”_ _

___Payment_._ _

__“What sort of payment?”_ _

___Memory_._ _

__“No.” Standing up, Jamie began to back away towards the cave entrance. “No, my memories are _mine_. I’ll no’ trade them just tae keep warm.”_ _

___Sharing_. He could feel the creature’s irritation coursing through his own veins. _Watching. Travelling_._ _

__“Oh.” He turned back towards the creature. “That’s what ye were doing. All those times I saw ye. Ye weren’t really – _real_. Only ye were, ye were _there_ , ye were as real as I was.” An image of the TARDIS sprung into his mind, unbidden, and he shivered, realising that the creature had pulled it from him. “Ye can use people’s memories to time travel? An’ I suppose ye only appear when there’s snow.” The creature nodded, and he returned to its side cautiously, sitting down beside it again. It turned to blink slowly at him in an odd, cat-like way, and its eyes were gentle, not piercing as they had been before. “An’ I’ve already made that choice, haven’t I? Otherwise I wouldnae have seen ye.”_ _

__It was an odd feeling, he thought, to be sitting with the creature that had tracked his footsteps for years. Many times he had idly imagined what he might do if he ever found himself face to face with the creature, and had never considered that he might sit and talk with it – if its funny way of communicating with images could be considered talking. But his anger and fear had vanished, replaced by a funny kind of melancholy that he had found the answer to its mystery, and that it could only track his past, not his future. He had grown so used to seeing the creature that the prospect of seeing it for the final time was overwhelming. “I’m gonnae miss ye, somehow. I wish I’d known sooner that ye weren’t gonnae kill me.”_ _

___Warm. Safe_. The creature tilted its head to one side, its eyes filled with something Jamie could only call kindness. _Safe_._ _

__“Aye, I know.” He reached out one hand tentatively, hovering it just in front of the creature. Closing his eyes and biting his lip, he closed the distance between them, expecting to yelp and pull his hand away, scorched from its freezing touch. Instead, he found that the creature was comfortably warm. It let out a sad whine that quickly turned into something more like a purr. “You’re gonnae keep me safe. An’ when the storm passes, I’ll go down an’ I’ll tell them that they cannae get power from the mountain anymore. I’ll keep ye safe, too.”_ _

____

* * *

“Oh, dear. Oh, dear me.” The Doctor grimaced up at the scanner. “I seem to have miscalculated.”

Ben shrugged, watching a flurry of snow burst into view. “I dunno, definitely looks like a beach to me, Doc,” he said, smirking at Polly. “We might even be able to make a snowcastle.”

Polly’s smile told Jamie that she had never expected anything else from the Doctor. “I suppose I was being a bit hopeful,” she said, gesturing down at her swimsuit. Her sunhat bobbed with the motion, then fell unceremoniously to the floor. “I’d better go and get changed.”

The Doctor’s bucket and spade joined Polly’s hat on the floor with a clatter. “Yes, I suppose you better had.” He busied himself with the console as Ben and Polly headed away down the corridor, his face a little redder than usual. “Oh, dear, oh dear.”

A large clump of snow slipped from the roof of the TARDIS, falling past the scanner before piling itself on the ground. Jamie watched it fall, his eyes fixed firmly on the screen but his mind miles away from the planet they had landed on. When the Doctor touched his elbow gently, he startled, almost springing away in surprise.

“Are you alright, Jamie?” The Doctor’s voice was low and filled with concern. “You’re not worried about whatever it was that’s been following you, are you?”

“No!” The exclamation was louder than Jamie had expected, and he winced at it. “No,” he repeated more softly, but the damage had already been done, and sympathy had set into the Doctor’s expression. “Really. I’m fine.”

He had often wondered whether keeping his meeting with the creature a secret had been the right thing to do. The Doctor would have been fascinated to meet the creature, surely, and it had been terribly difficult to convince the settlers to drill into the mountain without explaining why. But some part of him wanted to keep the hours he had spent on the mountainside to himself, a jealously guarded memory that was his alone.

“It’s quite alright to be frightened,” the Doctor said soothingly. “We don’t have to stay here if you don’t want to.”

“I’m fine,” Jamie insisted. “I’m no’ afraid of it anymore.”

The Doctor gave him an odd look, and for a moment Jamie wondered whether he knew – whether he had known all along, since the moment he had come down from the mountain, and had simply been humouring him. “You haven’t seen the creature lately, have you?”

It would be so easy to tell the Doctor now, he thought. Just to open his mouth and confess what had happened. And yet when he went to reply, he found that the whole business seemed unspeakable, and he could not find the words to express even the smallest part of it. Instead, he turned to put his back to the scanner, facing the Doctor fully.

“No,” he said at last. “No, I’ve no’ seen it for ages.”

On the scanner behind him, unseen, a great, hulking shape trudged its way across the skyline.


End file.
